Benny Hinn's Response To Dateline NBC
by Sandy Simpson, 1/11/03
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/hinndatelineresponse.htmlThere is no need to go into the history of Benny Hinn because he has been around what seems like forever and has been investigated enough times so that most people know quite a bit about him. An excellent resource on the history of Benny Hinn is available from Personal Freedom Outreach in a book called "The Confusing World Of Benny Hinn". Hinn has been investigated by two major secular news shows, and by some Christian news media as well.
Most recently he was investigated by Dateline NBC in a show that aired December 27, 2002. All of these shows showed evidence that Benny Hinn has been scaming people for their money with false healing claims that he cannot prove. He was asked on all these shows to provide medical proof of the miracles he and his follower claim to be experiencing, but to date not one shred of definitive evidence has been provided by the ministry. Hinn did provide evidence, but when it was investigated the claims turned out to be claims without medical justification.
Quite contrary to Hinn's claims, a number of people have died who Hinn proclaimed healed. Hinn stated that he never states that people are healed but they are the ones saying they are healed, yet we have many video clips of him telling people they are healed. He also uses the 700 Club "word of knowledge" scam of claiming God is telling him that "someone out there in TV land has a headache and that that headache is healed" then he tells people to hurry and call the show with their testimonies of healing. He continued this practice on his rebuttal show of 12/29/02. Of course out of the millions of viewers some unfortunate supporters of Benny call in and report that they feel their headache is gone. No further evidence is ever presented, yet this little scam is presented as fact and followers of these scam artists actually believe this hearsay evidence. When further investigated, however, this evidence never holds up medically. Therefore Benny Hinn and others who use this device are using deception to gain followers and money.
On the Dateline NBC program we were treated to very similar information as in previous investigative shows on Hinn. He was shown to be using false claims of miracles to gain followers and money. Dateline showed that Hinn has not delivered on some promises of projects he raised money for, including an orphanage in Mexico and his $30 million dollar healing center in Las Colinas, TX. This healing center was supposed to bring "a touch of Lourdes" to Las Colinas, TX with healing statues and all kinds of other pagan stuff. They also talked about his new $3 million dollar "parsonage" that is 7200 square feet and has 7 bedrooms and a 10 car garage in a luxury gated community in Dana Point, CA. The only fact they got wrong is that Hinn's new mansion actually has a 5 car garage, but Hinn didn't refute this fact on his TBN show aired December 29, 2002 but instead joked that you couldn't fit 10 go-carts in his garage. Why didn't he point out that Dateline got their facts wrong and he actually has a five car garage? Because he is embarrassed about his huge house! If you think about it Hinn even lied about this fact because go-carts are pretty small and, by my calculations, at least 20 go-carts would fit into a five car garage. Dateline also questioned Hinn's integrity, citing a testimony from a former employee. Michael Cohen, a former member of Hinn's security detail, testified that Hinn made light of a $5. donation by an old lady. He said: "Like one little grandmother one time came up and cried, I think she said, this is my last $5. And we got back in the Green Room and he (Hinn) said, 'Ha, I got her last $5, guys.'" There was also another report of corruption on Hinn's staff. There were questions about Hinn's salary and his refusal to join the ECFA like so many other missions have done many years ago. There were more reports of deaths as a result of people not seeking adequate medical attention because Hinn had pronounced them healed.